Duke Nukem Advance

Looking uncannily like PC classic Duke Nukem 3D, Duke Nukem Advance
is more than just a straight port - it's a whole new adventure -
and that's bound to count for something in the surprisingly
saturated FPS market on Nintendo's handheld. But can the ageing
Duke deliver the goods necessary to trounce Ecks Vs. Sever and
dominate Doom?

Groovy

Naturally, the plot is complete guff. Duke has been
hired by the army (the army!) in order to foil a covert
alien operation to, you know... take over the world and stuff.
Teleporting on board an alien spacecraft, it's from here that Duke
sets off on his mission to kick ass and chew bubblegum. And yes,
he's all out of bubblegum - don't tell me you didn't see that one
coming?

Controlling Duke is a pretty simple affair, with strafing attached
to the shoulder buttons, movement on the D-pad and looking/jumping
on A/B. The only button combinations we needed to remember were for
weapon switching and looking up and down, the latter of which
you'll probably never even need to use. Aiding him on his crusade
is the usual complement of FPS-staple weaponry; a pistol, shotgun,
super-shotgun (or "lead cannon" as it's known here), rocket
launcher and pipe bombs. In addition there are the comedy sci-fi
weapons like the freeze and shrink rays, the latter of which forces
your foe into a piddly state, ready for you to stomp on.

"So far, so familiar," you must be thinking. Well, yes, but then
that's what makes Duke Nukem Advance such an enjoyable little game.
The nineteen brand new missions represent pretty much what we liked
about the original Duke Nukem 3D, albeit sans strippers, in a whole
new set of levels. It's a tongue-in-cheek jaunt through a decent
variety of imaginatively designed maps.

Damn I'm good

The underlying Build engine, which we have
such fond memories of tweaking and toying with on the PC, appears
more or less unchanged as well, although bullet holes and
destructible scenery have been stripped away to keep the poor
little GBA happy. The texturing is of a generally high standard,
though, and the enemy sprites are just how we remember them - and
trust us, they look a lot better in motion than they do in the
screenshots!

Even the classic theme tune has been brought across along with a
few of Duke's pithy catchphrases. Chuckling away as he grumbled
"Let's rock!" we began to appreciate why Duke Advance stood head
and shoulders above Ecks Vs. Sever and even Doom in the fun stakes
- it doesn't take itself too seriously.

Developer Torus isn't kidding itself that this is anything but an
opportunity to traipse through nineteen levels blasting away at
random enemies and finding keycards, and to that end they've
created a comfortably-paced and well designed addition to the Duke
legacy. Throw in a four-player Dukematch mode - always a laugh -
and we have the best first person shooter on the GameBoy Advance to
date.

Conclusion

Frankly, Duke Nukem Advance surprised us. What appeared at first to
be a slapped together run-of-the-mill cash-in has instead turned
out to be a very entertaining little title. It breaks no new ground
in gaming conventions, and it wont keep you playing for months, but
it looks good and it plays well, which is more than can be said for
some of its competition. Hail to the King, baby!

Games featured in this article

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